Odisha chit fund scam; raids continue for second day

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Aug 1, 2014 at 5:04 PM Updated On : Aug 1, 2014 at 5:19 PM

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Aug 1:

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The raids on Navadiganta Capital Services Limited (NCSL), a chit fund company, continued for the second day today with a CBI team raiding the residence of a director of the company at Hanspal on the outskirts of the Odisha capital.

Yesterday, CBI sleuths had conducted raids on the company’s office in Nayapalli and the house of another director Pardeep Kummar Patnaik.

Sources said the team has seized several incriminating documents which it says would help them during the interrogation of the director, Kartikyya Parida, as part of the ongoing investigation into the case.

Registered in 2011, NCSL has allegedly duped thousands of gullible investors by collecting crores of rupees from them. The company is run by Pattnaik, along with five other five active directors: Kartikeya Parida, Anjan Kumar Baliyarsingh and three politicians. The politicians in the board are Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Mayurbhanj Ramachandra Hansda, former BJD MLA from Keonjhar Subarna Nayak and former BJP MLA from Khariar Hitesh Kumar Bagartti.

Yesterday, nine teams of CBI had conducted raid in Bhubnaeswar as well as in 14 locations across Odisha. Among the places raided were Hansda’s houses in Bhubaneswar and Rairangpur, Naik’s residence in Govindpur village in Keonjhar district and Bagartti’s house at Khariar.

The team had also seized important documents, hard cash and electronic gadgets during the raids at these politicians’ houses.

Sources said NCSL had opened branches in Bhubaneswar, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Boudh, Kandhamal districts and had duped more than 2000 investors of around Rs 70 crore on the promise of hefty returns.

Interestingly, though the investors had approached Nayapalli police station in 2011 to lodge a cheating case against the company officials, police neither registered a case nor took any action on their complaint.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of State’s Crime Branch also sat tight over another case filed against the company by the investors in February 24, 2014.